Political Participation, Electoral Behavior and Democracy (Looking at the Eleventh Iranian Parliamentary Elections, March 23, 2018)

Another dimension of Imam Khomeini's strategic decisions is the power of his analysis and predictions, which was confirmed in 90% of the cases studied. This component, along with the component of strategic knowledge of internal and environmental factors, acts as a com-plement to it; an‎d introduces the element of time into the category of cognition and pro-vides the power to analyze and predict future events; Which has certainly played an impor-tant role in the type of decision-making of Imam Khomeini. The present study examines the relationship between political participation and democracy with regard to the issue of elec-toral behavior (voting) in the Islamic Republic. Political participation is considered as one of the important aspects and indicators of political culture from the perspective of political sociological approaches; Where components such as political participation, electoral beha-vior, and the principles and rules of democracy are challenged. The concept of democracy here also shows to what extent political culture is based on political participation and to what extent it is based on electoral behavior; A phenomenon that is characterized by voting and attending the ballot box in terms of spontaneous and participatory interests or in terms of the efforts and competition of different parties in specific and alternate periods of time. What is the focus of our study is the study and analysis of political participation and elec-toral behavior during the eleventh parliamentary elections; In which, as in other election periods, there is no sign of the presence and participation of political parties or groups and currents other than the two principled and reformist currents. On this basis, the present ar-ticle seeks to answer the basic question with such a premise that; "What is the relationship between political participation, electoral behavior and democratic relations or the institution of democracy in society and in the political system that governs the country?" But another question that is important in this regard is that; "To what extent does the very spirit of po litical participation, especially in the form of electoral behavior, confirm and indicate the existence of a democratic political structure and a democratic system in society?" This ques-tion is especially important and decisive when it is studied in the light of an undeniable po-litical fact, and that, given the findings and quantitative data related to the Eleventh Parlia-mentary elections. The level of political participation and the tangible (factual) effects of the behavior of this period were at their lowest and lowest level compared to the previous pe-riods. Given the findings and statistical and quantitative data available on political participa-tion, especially in the form of electoral behavior and the presence of people in polling sta-tions and numerous polling stations across the country, it is assumed; In some periods, we seem to see some signs of competitive and quasi-democratic participation, which has some-times given it a passionate, spontaneous and participatory form; But in the eleventh period, due to the conditions of the political, social and economic crisis and its consequences, the issue of political participation fell to its lowest level in the four decades after the revolution and began to decline.